Unprecedented Tribal Conflict Brewing In The UK Among British Nigerian Councillors

An unprecedented tribal conflict is now being to reported in the UK among the Nigerian counsellors as 21 Councillors from the Western Nigeria are merged in a plot to remove the first Igbo Councillors to hold the post of Chairman since 2011.

It was gathered that the former chairman has been in power since 2011 till 2019 contrary to the constitution of the association which stipulates 2 years and maximum two terms of Four years.

It is been said that although the former Chairman was deselected as Councillor from his Borough, he continued to hold the position of chair till 2019.

In 2020, a new chairman was elected in the person of Mr Lambe. Who later resigned his position because of internal conflict from some unidentified members of the organization thereby paving way for his vice Chairman Councillor Anna Mbachu to take the position of Chairperson.

On the 9^th of October 2020 at an EGM held which was well attended by Nigerian Councillors from all the UK gave a 100% voted for Cllr. Anna Mbachu as the Chair. This did not go down well with some and a plot was hatched to remove her.

Cllr. Anna Mbachu has been a councillor since 2006. A woman who have ventured into the male dominated area of UK politics.  A trail blazer who became the first female black woman to assume the post of a Mayor in London Borough of Waltham Forest, First Igbo woman to become a Mayor in London during these period; she has held various positions; these are from being in leadership team as a junior cabinet member to chairing various Scrutiny position and Deputy Leader of the Group.

Cllr Anna Mbachu is also a senior practicing clinician with NHS, a philanthropist who supports number of charities both here in UK and outside of UK.  She is married with children one of whom became the youngest councillor.  Anna is a recipient of numerous awards from UK and around the globe.

The new executives are as follows:

• Vice Chair: Cllr. Oluwole Adegboyega (B. & Dagenham)
• Secretary: Cllr. Tubo Uranta (Milton Keynes)
• Sect: Cllr Leslie Ayoola (Nottingham City)
• Project Secretary: Cllr. Gloria Opara (Medway)
• Publicity Sec: Cllr. T.O.S Gbaja-Biamila (Hurley Parish Council).
• Treasurer: Cllr. Victoria Obase (Tower Hamlet)

Ever since Counsellor Anna Mbachu resumed office, the once moribund organization was moved from being just a What’s App forum organization to an official organization through the introduction formality, bringing the association into 21st century. Councillor Anna Mbachu with her current executive created a Formal Email, Twitter Handle @abncuk, Facebook: Association of British Nigeria Councillors UK, Website and Association Bank Account.

We gather that without an EGM meeting 21 Counsellors of the Yoruba extraction raised a WhatsApp vote of no confidence, calling for the dissolution of the current execution with the collaboration of some Igbo counsellors.

We learnt that some Igbo leaders have been notified of a pending conflict and has made efforts to reach the people involved in this conflict.

There are efforts been made also to reach some Yoruba Leaders in the UK to find ways to end this impasse.

Meanwhile a campaign of calumny has been launched by some Igbo involved in the plot to use an incident that happened many years ago between Anna Mbachu and her driver to incite hatred towards her.